Minetest 0.4.16 approach, we defined 4th June as an expected date for the release.

Feature freeze is now in progress, no more feature will be added to minetest until release.

It's time to tease a little bit the changes in this version, and it's certainly the biggest version with user visible changes since 2 years.

Changelog (on 7 Apr.)

Minimum version supported is now 0.4.11

Fix definitively breath cheat

Add 2D sheet animations for nodes

Huge ABM handling code performance improvement

Enable mod_security by default

Drop client side chat prediction. No more messages shown to chat when you talk and you are disconnected

Add minetest.player_exists()

Add particle animation, glow

Little antispam fix

Add player attributes backend. This permits modders to store misc player related data to core and retrieve it after player loading. The attribute save is done by core.

Fix a little bit fog calculations

Server list add ping indicators

Add mod metadata API permitting mods to have a standard way to write their own data. We recommend you to use this instead of your custom files backend

Fix player deletion problem when too many objects are in a mapblock

Various mapgen enhancements

Add position & anchor attributes for formspecs

Add minetest.spawn_falling_node call

Redis authentication support

Server side occlusion culling

New custom progress bar (you can customize it with modpacks)

Better block sending priorities to send map to players

Sneaking changes

Smooth lighting

Added mesh generation delay

PostgreSQL bugfix on blocks deletion + PostgreSQL < 9.5 support

Windows integration enhancements

Wieldmesh natural orientation

Memleak fix on client disconnection

Various performance fixes

Code refactoring (Game, Environments)

Introducing Client-Side modding (CSM for intimates). You can now have local mods to read various client data and handle different client events. This new modding step is very secure, you don't have access to all standard Lua API, just a subset, to protect your computers. Mods should be installed in /clientmods. You will also have access to Client side commands, starting with a dot.

Player data can now be into database. This is an important change, players to files are always supported but deprecated. Files backend for players will be removed in a future release. See http://wiki.minetest.net/Database_backends for compat matrix and migration steps.

I want to add "smooth lighting for literally everything" to the list, that is huge step forward for minetest graphics and of course lighting fixes, some time ago I made a list of changes that is a bit outdated but is pretty short yet good summary for avg players here: viewtopic.php?f=5&t=15230&start=50#p258023

Mesh generation delay is must have for people that have big fps stutter like me, disabled by default, but easily enabled and configured in minetest.conf, choosing some value in range like 5-15ms is a good start. 15ms helped me a lot and now I can actually play minetest without suffering sudden frame render time slowdowns of up to 70-100-200ms (with avg frame render speed at 15ms for default config, that was very noticeable).

Last edited by Fixer on Thu Apr 06, 2017 21:56, edited 6 times in total.

So, how about changes/enhancements to the user-interface ? As in* F1 for help (+ moving 'hud on/off' to some other key, say F4)* adding keys for turning left/right (this is currently mouse-only)* ability to define additional / alternate keys (e.g. open inventory with "i" as well as tab-key, or moving with numpad-keys as well as with wasd)

hello hajo, it's a bit late for new features, we are trying to finish many opened PR. For the "/" alternate it's not simple because it's a server side feature, but using client side modding maybe we can permit to customize the client key for client mods.

Changing F1 to F4 is a nice idea but not simple as many users knows our bad scheme

Linuxdirk wrote:CSM should be only be a part of Minetest, and not the excuse for not adding core functionality :)

Oh i agree with you about that point, i prefer having strong C++ side with many features and expose a tiny set of lua features, but Minetest project wants modularity, then we got some consensus. If i was the only Minetest developer (and this will be never the case) builtin should be dropped to use only C++ side

Modularity is good. Exposing as much as possible to the API is good. Configuration options with sane defaults for anything that currently is hardcoded are good. But saying "if you want [a functionality that should be in core because there it can be implemented the best] implement it by yourself using CSM" is not good.

... but this aside I'm looking forward to see CSM getting more secure from the server owner point of view (rel: X-ray mods that possibly break server's economy).

hajo wrote:Almost all users of almost all programs expect f1 to call up help.And it would be nice if many, many new users wouldn't have to experience that bad scheme.

Also, I hardly ever turn of hud, so putting something more useful there would be sensible.

The only reason to turn off HUD is to make clean screenshot. Many players don't bother with it and make screenshots with HUD visible. I agree this feature (HUD on/off) is rarely used and, therefore, can be bound with another key, not [F1], which is strongly associated with help reference.

Last edited by Sergey on Fri Apr 07, 2017 18:31, edited 3 times in total.

Basically sneaking has been almost completely reworked. Very important bugfixes.A ton of ugly sneaking-related bugs have been fixed:

- Can glitch through ceiling while sneaking and jumping at certain structures- Can climb at absurd speeds when sneaking and jumping at nodes spaced one node apart (the infamous “sneak elevator”)- Can't sneak properly on partial nodes such as slabs- Can jump when you technically do not stand on the node anymore- Can jump higher when sneaking + jumping

Oh, i don't follow minetest_game i'm only on core engine, the official game is not in my scope, it's a pure engine vision, understandable for some users with interesting features and performance enhancements